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Suyana Ferreira, Los Alamos School of Gymnastics level 4 gymnast was the big winner at the Junior Olympic level 4 and 5 New Mexico state championships.
Los Alamos School of Gymnastics Atomic Tumblers traveled to Albuquerque last weekend to compete in the annual championship meet.
Ferreira’s all-around total of 37.75 was the tops at the meet.
Ferreira won gold for her score of 9.575 uneven parallel bar routine, while she took silver, with 9.575 on vault, 9.20 on balance beam and 9.40 on the floor exercises.
Los Alamos Atomic Tumblers took home a total of 19 medals from this meet, including 3 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze.
Other entrants for Los Alamos in the level 4 meet included Paetyn Miller and Brianna Fryer.
Miller took away a bronze on bars with 9.10, and was fourth in her age division with 33.90 all-around score.
Fryer was fifth in her age division with 34.125.
LASG’s other 13 medals came in level 5 competition.
A gold was earned by Elyse Phillips on the balance beam. LASG’s level 5 juniors balance beam champion won with a score of 8.725.
Phillips also eared the bronze on floor exercises with 8.85. She was fourth all-around with 35.15.
In this same division Ashley Bustos tallied a 35.75 all-around to earn a silver medal.

The Los Alamos Hilltopper baseball team picked up yet another 1-run win over another solid team to open the Piedra Vista Invitational.
Jared Mang threw a complete game against a very good hitting team and the defense behind him was spotless Thursday as Los Alamos nipped Monument High School of Fruita, Colo., 3-2, to open the tournament.
Los Alamos will now advance to face the host Piedra Vista Panthers this afternoon. This will be the third meeting between the two teams this season.
The Hilltoppers pushed two runs across in the first inning, then answered two Monument runs in the second inning with a run in the third, which proved to be the game-winner.
As he did last week against Hope Christian, catcher Trevor Pacheco came through with a clutch base hit with two outs in the third to drive in a run which proved to be the game winner.
“The last three games, we haven’t got a lot of hits, but we’ve gotten a lot of nice, timely hits,” Los Alamos manager Mike Gill said. Los Alamos finished with four hits Thursday.
The Hilltoppers (6-4) have now won four straight contests, all by 1-run margins.
Mang stayed out of trouble in every inning but the second when he walked a Monument batter and hit another with a pitch.

Mike Kluk has at least one advantage over most coaches taking over a basketball program: the chance to warm up.
Kluk was named the full-time head coach of Los Alamos’ boys basketball program Wednesday morning, getting the “interim” tag dropped from his title from last season.
In January, Los Alamos head coach Fil Dominguez left the program abruptly, citing family reasons and the health of his wife. With Dominguez’s departure, Kluk was installed and coached throughout the Hilltoppers’ District 2-4A season.
Now, as the head coach for the entire 2014-15 season, Kluk said he’s ready for the challenge.
“I don’t think we’re going to change a whole lot,” he said. “We’ve got two assistant coaches who have said they’re coming back, so the coaching staff’s not going to change much. With that, I can feel better about it, so let’s start getting ready.”
Los Alamos won just two games in 26 outings last season, with Dominguez earning one of those wins and Kluk the other. That win came early in district play when the Hilltoppers upset the Capital Jaguars 40-38 Jan. 31 at home.

Los Alamos High School announced this morning that Mike Kluk has been hired as the regular head coach of the boys basketball team.
Kluk was installed as the interim coach of the boys in January, following the sudden departure of Fil Dominguez. This morning, the interim tag was removed from Kluk's job description.
More information on Kluk's hire will be in Thursday's Los Alamos Monitor.

The Los Alamos Hilltopper baseball team picked up its second big win in a row, and again did so by the slimmest of margins.
The Hilltoppers nipped the Los Lunas Tigers on the road Tuesday afternoon. Lane Saunders pitched a gem for five innings, keeping a solid Tiger offense at bay as the Hilltoppers earned a 2-1 victory in Los Lunas.
Saunders allowed just two hits in his five innings of work. Connor Mang threw the sixth and the seventh to earn the save.
To get through his five innings, the left-handed Saunders needed a total of just 58 pitches. He was aided in his quest by the Los Alamos defense, which was shaky last week in a game against Albuquerque Academy but rock solid Tuesday, turning a pair of double plays behind him.
“It was just good pitching and great defense,” Los Alamos manager Mike Gill said after the game. “The defense was spot-on today. (Saunders) had pretty good control of his fastball today. They’re an aggressive swinging team but we got a lot of ground balls and a lot of fly balls.”
The Tigers (7-5) and Hilltoppers met twice last season and the Hilltoppers took it on the chin in both those contests, dropping them by identical scores of 15-2.

A big start and a big finish helped put Tuesday’s game away early for the Los Alamos Hilltopper softball team.
Los Alamos scored seven runs in the first two innings of its contest against the Pojoaque Valley Elkettes, then exploded for five runs in the home half of the fifth to win 13-3 in a mercy-rule shortened game at Overlook Park.
Hilltopper reserve third baseman Madeline Lockhart lined a triple into right field with the bases juiced in the fifth inning to set Los Alamos up for the winning scores at the end of the contest. Lockhart and Krysta Salazar would come in to score later in the inning to finish off the Elkettes.
“We’re making good contact,” Hilltopper manager Roger Anaya said. “Today we obviously hit the ball well.”
Just one game after the Hilltoppers pounded out 18 hits, 9 of those going for extra bases, in a win over Moriarty, the Hilltoppers slugged out six extra-base hits, at least one in every inning but the third, the only inning they didn’t score.
Los Alamos (3-4) jumped on Pojoaque Valley starting pitcher Angelica Romero early, getting a pair of doubles from Aletta Marciano, hitting out of the 3-hole, and Hannah Mojica in the 5-spot.

To the winners go the spoils. To the third-place finishers goes not much.
There wasn’t much hardware handed out to the Los Alamos Hilltopper girls basketball team in the way of postseason honors by District 2-4A. Los Alamos earned just one first team nod and two second team nods for the year.
The All 2-4A selections were announced Monday.
Point guard Amber Logan was the only Hilltopper to make the first team for 2013-14. Along with Logan, forward Kiana Zerr and shooting guard McKenzie Logan were named to the second team.
Los Alamos, which made the Class 4A playoffs, was awarded just one more 2-4A postseason honor than Capital, which didn’t win one game last season.
The Santa Fe Demons, who won the 4A championship, picked up both the Most Valuable Player Award, for Kayla Herrera, and Coach of the Year for Elmer Chavez.
Los Alamos’ boys, who won only two games last season, had two selections. Shooting guard Skyler Veenis was named to the first team All-District, while point guard Franklin Archuleta picked up a second team award.

Chelsea Challacombe had a big showing this weekend to lead the Los Alamos Hilltopper girls track and field team to a solid finish.
Challacombe won the 100 meter hurdles for Los Alamos’ girls at the Cleveland Invitational Saturday, finishing in a time of 16.77 seconds. Along with her win in that event, Challacombe was fourth in the long jump and shot put events.
Los Alamos’ girls finished with 40 team points, which placed them fifth in team competition. Los Alamos’ boys finished eighth out of 14 competing teams this weekend.
The host Cleveland Storm won both ends of the meet. Cleveland’s boys earned 102 points, easily outdistancing Volcano Vista, while the Storm girls nipped La Cueva by 3 points to win that title.
The Hilltopper boys earned three runner-up finishes in individual events Saturday. Xavier Dennison had a strong showing in the 100 meters, finishing in a time of 11.35, while Seth Drop was the runner-up in pole vault and Skyler McCall tied for second in the high jump.
On the girls side, Mikayla Pulliam took third in the 3200 meters and Elizabeth Lockhart was the runner-up in the triple jump, among Los Alamos’ top individual finishes.

While the race is for a good cause, it doesn’t hurt to throw a bone to avid runners, either.
That’s the idea, anyway, behind the marketing aspect of the Run For Her Life, which returns to Los Alamos March 30.
Run For Her Life is a 5K and 10K race hosted by Hadassah. The event is a fundraiser for charities that do work in the field of breast cancer research.
The event returns for its fourth annual running at East Park in Los Alamos.
In its history, it’s turned into a popular race for those who participate.
“It’s always been positive,” said Ted Williams, one of the race’s organizers, as well as a veteran local runner. “The course we designed, we advertise it as being the fastest in the county. Runners like to have good times when they compete.”
Williams, who was in charge of mapping out the run when the event was first starting in 2010, strove to find the flattest course he could, which he said was quite a challenge, as very little open space around the county doesn’t have hills or grades.
But the course he plotted, which hasn’t changed in the history of the run, has been a good one for everyone taking part.
Hadassah is an international Jewish women’s organization which boasts more than 300,000 members worldwide.

Los Alamos High School’s girls soccer team will have a meeting Wednesday for all girls interested in playing next season.
Girls will also have a chance to meet new head coach AJ Herrera. Herrera will take over for outgoing head coach Jiri Kubicek.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the LAHS Speech Theater.
For more information, call LAHS’ athletic office at 663-2531.

Pitching, fielding camp coming to White Rock

The Albuquerque Baseball Academy will host a pitching and fielding camp for youth ages 7-13 in Los Alamos.
The camp is scheduled for March 29 at Overlook Park.
The camp will be led by former professional players Ryan Brewer and Lauro Felix.
Price for participation is $65 per player, $5 of which will be donated to the Justin Solomon Cancer Fund.
For registration, visit ababaseball.com. Questions may be directed to Brewer by calling 730-6979 or emailing abacademy@ qwestoffice.net.